Differential gear



Patented June 16, 1925.

UNITE STATES Ears wrnrirniu MieoKAY-W'HITE, ornnnon'roiv, nrinnara, cannon.

nrrrnanlv'rmsr. GEAR.

Application files]. September 11, 1922, Serial No. 587,597.

T 0 all 207mm it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Exam lVInLiAM 1%{AC KAY-VVnrrn, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at the city of Edmonton, in the Province of Alberta, in the Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Differential Gears, of which the following is the spe fication. V

My invention particularly relates to differential gears for vehicles of the chain tracks or self laying track type.

lVith this type of vehicle when it is de sired to deviate from a straight course, the track which lS'OIl the outer side of the curve must be caused to travel at a greater speed than the track which is on the inner side of the curve. Heretofore this has been accomplished by means of brakes or of clutches, neither of which methods provides a sufficiently accurate means of steering a vehicle travelling at speed in traffic. The object of my invention is to provide a means of accelerating and of retarding the outer and the inner tracks respectively without the aid of clutches, brakes and such like mechanisms. I V i I attain these objects by means of the mechanism as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents an elevational view of an alternative arrangement of my differential gear.

Fig. 2 represents a plan view of Fig. 3, part of the rotary member and four of theplanet pinions having been, removed from the left half.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the various views.

Each of the two difierential gears consists of a driving shaft 6 with a driving gear wheel a; mounted upon it and a driven gear wheel a mounted upon a driven shaft 6 and planet pinions b-l meshing with gear (not shown) are connected to the shaft e The object of my invention is attained as follows The driving shaft 6 rotatesthe gears 'a, which coact with the pinions I; mounted on a plurality of shafts in the rotating mom bers (Z. The pinions Z7 are coincidently rotated with the pinion. b and travel on the gears a, or clutch the same as the case may be.

The rotating members (Z are free on all shafts, consequently all control is through the worm and gear and bevel gears fixedly secured to said rotating members, as for instance, the shaft 6 being driven turns the central gears a and the gears a on the shafts e are in train, therefore as the pinions 7) are rotated in an opposite direction to the geara and the pinions b turning the same way as pinions 7) turn the gear a in an opposite direction, which is the same way as the shaft 6.

,This operation occurs if the members (Z are held from rotation by the worm and gear and in fact the operation continues up to the time that the worm and worm wheel reach the same speed as the shaft 0 or greater.

During the period of change from stop to even speed of the worm and wheel the speed of the shafts c will be constantly changing for the very good reason that when the rotating members hold fast the train of gears is in full operation and is merely transmission of power from the shaft 6 to the shafts 6 whereas if the members 0? are permitted to rotate slowly, the power is reduced to the margin of rotatory motion between the shaft 6 and members 03 after deducting the low speed of the members cl from the high'speed of the shaft 6 and as this is worm and wheel control it will lock itself at any chosen speed and the planetary movement will be immediately affected thereby.

I am aware that differential gears are already in use for the purpose of enabling the driving wheels of vehicles to adjust their speed on curves and I, therefore, do not claim such gears broadly, but what I do claim as my invention is In differential gears of the planetary type, a pair of rotating members in the form of gear casings, driving and driven shafts forming bearings for said members and operatively connected therewith, driving gears mounted on said driving shafts, driven gears testing the locking or partial locking of the 10 planetary system.

Signed at the city of Edmonton, this first day of August, 1922.

ERIC WILLIAM MacKAY-WI-IITE.

In the presence of:

GLADYs CUFF, JAS. ALLENDICE. 

